


Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

by Minne_My



Category: Bramwell (TV)
Genre: Doctors & Physicians, Gen, Motherhood, Old Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 21:51:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19472920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minne_My/pseuds/Minne_My
Summary: Catching up from the past





	Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

He was walking along, minding his own business when he saw the plaque.

**_Dr Bramwell, Physician_ **

He had thought that old Bramwell had retired into the countryside. This was Camden Town. He hesitated, wondering if to knock and see if his old acquaintance was there. Might as well. He rang the bell and was admitted. He waited for a few minutes until Dr Bramwell was ready to see him. It was not quite the face he was expecting.

‘Eleanor!’

She sat there smiling at him, having apparently forgiven him.

‘Mr Marsham. How lovely to see you.’

‘I thought I was going to see Robert.’

She laughed at that, that wonderful abrupt laugh. Nobody had a laugh like hers.

‘Are you here for medical attention?’

‘No.’ She motioned for him to sit down.

‘Just wanted to say hello. You’re a long way from the Thrift.’

She noted his embarrassment, the way he’d fired her from her own hospital still fresh in their memories. But she bore him no grudge now.

‘I’m halfway into the countryside! And in an odd way, I quite like it now. How is the Thrift?’

‘Doing well actually. Perhaps you’d like to come and visit it.’

‘I shall, one day. I didn’t know if it was still standing.’

He had to apologise then, for the bad blood between them. She waved it away. They discussed his fast growing up daughters, Eleanor promised to visit them one day. A volley of haphazard knocks at the door interrupted them. An insistent chirrup imploring for _mummy_ got Eleanor up and opening the door. Looking down at the small creature, Joe noticed her smile of affection. Sweeping down and scooping him up, she closed the door and came back to the conversation, a toddler clinging to her hip.

‘Don’t mind him, he’s getting a bit restless.’

She gently fussed over him for a bit, Joe looking on incredulously. He knew that Eleanor liked children but this boy, he had her eyes.

‘Is he?’

‘Oh yes. I named him after my father. Robert.’

If he was right in thinking, the father of her child was…

She knew what he was thinking.

‘I didn’t mean it to happen. I was going to have to give him up. But a certain Major decided to save me at the last minute. I’m not unhappy with the situation.’

He was mildly put out that she’d had illicit relations with that Major Quarrie on the night of their falling out, that fateful party. But it seemed that the Major wasn’t so much of a cad to leave her destitute and disgraced. Joe grudgingly respected him for that.

‘Surely the plaque should say Dr Quarrie?’

Eleanor laughed. ‘Not so. I fought hard to be who I am professionally.’

Most men wouldn’t have permitted such an obstinate business mind from a wife, admittedly himself included. The Major was clearly very progressive. Or somewhat inattentive.

‘And personally?’

‘Well, I’m content with what I have. I’ll be Mrs Quarrie if I can be Dr Bramwell at the same time. No matter how many children we’ll have, I can always be a physician in my spare time. I’ll always have that.’

Contentment was happiness, he knew that. She was settled, having compromised but she was always going to be a whirlwind of activity. It suited her.

With promises and addresses exchanged, he departed with a lighter heart. He’d missed her even though he didn’t regret having to do what he did. It had been time for her to have taken a break from the menace that was engulfing the threads of her being. A break from being his fiancée. She had become so reckless and foolish that he’d hardly recognised her. Now, she was really coming into her own.

She promised that one day she’d come back to the Thrift and show her son what she had achieved. He was looking forward to it.


End file.
